In an effort to keep the little one entertained, I took Mia to the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. They were having a Rein-dog Parade as part of a holiday celebration and I thought, well, Mia loves dogs. She'll probably love this.
Yes, I had reservations. I do not think it is a nice thing to dress up your dog. We watched the Westminster Dog Show on TV yesterday and though it is not as funny as Best in Show, my heart was warmed by Mia's squeals of delight. (Squeals rock.) I guess that why my judgement was so cloudy when I decided this was a good idea.
Weathered the traffic out to Glencoe all right, but the parking took at $9 bite out of my already strapped funds. The parkingmaster read us a list of warnings before taking our money: you have to wait 15 minutes, there's an additional charge inside, then the reindog parade begins. Okay, yeah, I know, I said but I began to feel trepidation.
The event was very badly planned and we stayed out in the snow a long time and never really did get to see any semblance of a "parade." Mia was not amused. Worse yet was when I put her back in her carseat, she cried bloody hell and did not let up. Mia is not a crier so I worried. The only other time she ever did this was when my friend Jake looked at her, but that's another story. (Sorry, Jake!) I started back to Chicago with her whimpering, worried that something might be terribly wrong. About five miles into our highway drive, I put her hat on over mine and she cracked a little smile so I figured she'd make it till we got home but all in all the outing was a bust.
Verdict: Suburban events where people dress up dogs-- Bad Idea Jeans.
